Studying
by Amanda9
Summary: Hermione's interest is purely intellectual discovery...she's sure of it.


**Title:** **_Studying  
_By:** Amanda  
**Feedback:** sweety167yahoo.ca  
**For: **kellygreen  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Disclaimer:** I'm just playing with JK Rowling's toys. I promise to put them back when I'm done, whenever that is.  
**Timing:** OotP  
**Pairing:** Hermione/Luna  
**Summary: **Hermione's interest is purely intellectual discovery…she's sure of it. **  
Completed: **April 23, 2006  
**Notes: **I have given up on trying to write drabbles… 100 words merely wasn't enough room for this.

* * *

'She's so very…odd,' Hermione thought as she watched Luna from halfway across the Great Hall. She had become insistent on discovering just what it was about the girl that made her that way. She was curious.

'No, not curious. Intellect does not provide for curiosity,' she had an analytical need to know what made Luna…well, _Luna_. She had to know about this new girl who was floating around their inner circle. It was her duty really, to understand anyone that came too close to the Boy Who Lived – people's intentions are always a worry. You never knew who you could trust.

'Upon first inspection, she's just like any other teenaged girl. Well, any other one at Hogwarts that is,' she began her critical review of the other girl, 'Almost typical blonde hair with the standard blue eyes to go with it. Although, her eyes are so strange…almost something hypnotic about the wideness of the blue and… Ah, no. That's not what's different about her. Um. She's somewhat on the skinny side though with really busy hands. Her hands are always doing something. Moving pages about, adjusting her fork. A nervous little habit maybe? Hiding something? No. I don't even think she knows she does it. Watching her delicate hands move about can tell you a lot… I wonder what they feel like. They look smooth and soft.

'Well, she certainly doesn't bite her nails, and she doesn't paint them either. That puts her somewhere between the Padma sisters and Millicent. Or maybe not…no, she's in her own category.

'So her hands didn't help.'

'It couldn't all be pinned down on those radish earrings or bottle cork necklace. They are far too obvious, and not so much odd as they are unique. It shows Luna's character and individuality in a school of standard uniforms and colours. It's refreshing really. A little odd looking, but refreshing.

'So no, it isn't her, ah, jewellery'

'Just what is it about Luna Lovegood?'

Hermione signed, quill gently tapping on the tabletop, 'Ah, her wand. A wizard is only as good as their wand. It looks like…elder. Pliable elder and that's not all that uncommon. Although, rumour has it, it's crane feather. Which is different. Different in just how ordinary it is. And what does it say about someone who keeps it behind their ear of all places? Careless. Inconsiderate. Strange girl. But on the other hand – it's always at the ready. Almost quite handy. And she obviously isn't ashamed of it. Luna certainly isn't ashamed of her place as a wizard.'

Hermione tilted her head from one side to the other, watching as Luna read her daily copy of The Quibbler upside-down, 'There had to be something.'

'She seems naïve and simple, but a Ravenclaw is anything but simple. And she's certainly seen her fair share of experiences – from what I've heard from Harry. With all her oddball declarations – Snorkacks indeed – and everyone mocking her for them, she holds to her convictions in the face of any adversary. She very well could have been Gryffindor. She's most certainly smart, being in Ravenclaw. I could have been in Ravenclaw after all.

'So simple is definitely not what she is.'

'Well, maybe she's not really _that_ odd. Different, but that's her. There's still something. Something about her, Some reason I just can't get her out of my head. I can't stop staring at her, watching her. Wondering about her.

'There must be something! Some reason I find her pale skin so interesting. Why I want to hear every crazy idea she has. Why I want to have her dreamlike eyes focused on me, why I want to know what her busy hands feel like…

"Hermione!" Ron's startled voice broke into her thoughts, "You're all flush…what's the matter?" he reached out to feel her forehead.

She swatted away his hand. "I'm fine," Her eyes shifted around the other faces to make sure no one was paying any attention, "I was just…" Luna was staring off again, seemingly at nothing, "studying."

**End. **

**-------------------  
more notes:  
**On the topic of Luna's wand: going with Celtic belief, like how JK picked the wands for Harry, Ron and Hermione, I picked a crane feather because to quote: 'The crane is the guardian of great secrets and can give access to hidden knowledge. It also embodies the qualities of patient and persistent concentration while waiting for revelations, and rapid action when all is revealed". And I thought that was perfect for Luna. And I liked elder because of it's connection to the "the spirits of the dead" and "potential for prophecy and for seeing beyond surface appearances".


End file.
